Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all our witnesses for being here. There is an array of acronyms before us - CIF, IIP and PII. Wind Energy Ireland would be well advised not to shorten its name to an acronym. I acknowledge the submissions are useful at this stage of PLS because the slot for opening statements sometimes does not afford witnesses the time to make their full observations.

It is inevitable in this discussion that the delivery issues will become a factor in the conversation even though they are not necessarily at the core of what the legislation is dealing with. CIF's submission deals largely with the area of delivery. I could not agree more about building more housing but, as we know, it is much more complex than that. It is worth noting, some of the changes proposed in the planning Bill will not have any real impact on housing supply in the short term, and certainly not during the lifetime of the Government. What we are doing is putting in place something that will put Ireland in good shape in respect of housing and infrastructural development in the next decade.

For the moment, I am going to park the delivery and shortage-of-housing issues, which we normally talk about in this committee, so we can concentrate on the legislation. I will invite the bodies that made specific observations on sections of the Bill to elaborate. Mr. Moran referred to sections 184 and 249. Will he expand on his concerns regarding these sections?